91 Days ’til 40: Being Thankful

Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough. ~ Oprah Winfrey

I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose. ~ Woody Allen

Yes, I have done it. I succumbed to the pressure around me to write about Thanksgiving day and what I have to be thankful for. I have a lot. I think many of us have a lot to be thankful for.

As I have been watching the international news over the past few months, I am quite saddened…. from Syria to the DRC we see so much instability and unrest. Life is put into perspective very quickly for me. Life is harder for many people – be it a small child in an orphanage in Africa or Russia or an adult struggling to find where they belong in the midst of civil unrest in the country of their birth.

I have learned that life is really about perspective and that perspective plays such a strong role in happiness. The half-empty versus the half-full glass holders really do live very different lives. I have also learned that, at times, we need to work to find the things that we are thankful for; yet, if we put in a little effort, it is not hard. I can give you a few examples of the very small things in life I am thankful for – they are only small until they disappear, and then they are greatly missed.

Loving family

Warm showers

Laughing children

Purring cats

Working heaters in the winter and A/C in the summer

Internet connections

Hugs

Smiles

Good food – especially ice cream! (Yes, in my book ice cream is indeed a food!)

Skype (I get to see and talk to my family from anywhere in the world – even from visits to rural Africa!)

Chocolate

Coffee

Good books

Best friends

I am sure that my readers can add many more things to this list, I could as well. I find that in moments when my attitude is not great, if I allow myself to be thankful for the small things everything shifts and I am able to see a change in my attitude.

I am in a psychiatric hospital in Jerusalem and have been broken hearted the last several days because of the situation here. Then the bus bombing. I’m trying to see positives like all of the thousands of rockets that have been fired from Gaza and injured nobody. I think that is a miracle.

Funny you should write a post on Being Thankful. Yesterday afternoon I stepped back from all the chaos and spent the whole afternoon in the kitchen whipping up some mince pies, gf bread and mulled wine. I only let music (from my twenties) break the silence. It was like having a week off. I’m fit for anything! But as I see the rain drenched footpath outside I just want to snuggle back up into bed! Great post and a good reminder to be thankful as it puts us into good humour. Even if a person only feels like being thankful for the cup of tea in the hand it’s a start.

Reblogged this on Spelt for Choice: Marian's Dairy Free & Egg Free Kitchen and commented:
A great post from ‘400 Days til 40” on Being Thankful. Timely as yesterday afternoon I stepped back from all the chaos and spent the whole afternoon in the kitchen whipping up some mince pies, gf bread and mulled wine. I only let music (from my twenties) break the silence. It was like having a week off. I’m fit for anything! But as I see the rain drenched footpath outside I just want to snuggle back up into bed! Great pos. A good reminder to be thankful as it puts us into good humour. Even if it’s you only feel like being thankful for the cup of tea in your hand right now well it’s a start.

I so hope many all across the world take a moment, today and every day, to be thankful for at least one small thing in their lives. It seems some days, the entire population has gone ‘loopy’, and that one bit of stopping to be thankful becomes the only time of sanity for that day.